Focus on what your body can do

As much as I like to say I don’t care what the scales say – if I jump on the scales and get a number I am not happy with it can really ruin my day. I have found the best way to avoid this unnecessary and self obsessive way of thinking is to not go near the scales at all. Its not just the scales – it can also be about not liking the “look” of bits and pieces of your body. “My stomach is so wobbly, my thighs are too large, the tops of my arms are too flabby”… and so on and so on. This kind of thinking really gets you nowhere – except to make you unhappy. It’s self indulgent wallowing and its highly likely that other people have not even registered your “large thighs”. They are too busy obsessing about their flat chest or their ugly toes. If they have thought about how large your thighs are – it is not something that will make them think anything less of you.

I recently explained to my teenage daughter that it’s a complete waste of time and energy thinking about how “large” your thighs are or how much you dislike the look of certain body parts. A far more constructive obsession is to think about how much you can do with your body. Once you start putting your energy into improving your fitness and increasing your strength what you usually find is that you start to appreciate your body a lot more. You think about how much you have improved since you started and how something that would make you feel wiped out is now easy. You also start to see nutrition as a way of fuelling your body well – looking for the food that you know will assist you build more muscle and get stronger.

For most people once they get serious about health and fitness – the look and shape of their body gradually changes – they start to look fit and strong and they start to feel much better about themselves. They might still not be “perfect” but they are making the most of the body they were born with and achieving new fitness milestones and feeling good about themselves. And when those crazy endorphins kick in – there is no stopping you.